Moles and their chilies

[eje]

Mole Negro Oaxaqueno con Puerco

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This turned out quite well.

Deviations:

I used a whole bone in pork shoulder cooked in 1 bottle dark beer, 3 cups water. When it was tender, I shredded it, and added it to the sauce.

In "The Art of Mexican Cooking" Diana Kennedy includes a couple Mulatos in her Mole Negro recipe, so I added those.

I don't have a big molcajete, so I used a combination of blender, coffee grinder, and food mill for the spices and nuts. My blender doesn't do a great job, so I soaked the chiles seperately and then passed them through the food mill to remove the larger pieces of skin.

PS. Whole dinner menu posted here.

Edited April 1, 2006 by eje (log)

[Adam Balic]

I made chicken Mole Puebla Style recently, here are some observations. Recipe largely based on that of Elisabeth Lambert-Ortiz, but also from other sources I have read here and there

Chiles left to right: Ancho (6), Pastilla (4), Mulato (4).

These are fried in lard (briefly), after which they puff up and turn a nice reddish colour.

These are torn up and left to soak for half an hour or so.

Meanwhile, onions and garlic are browned. Some recipes don't do this step, but I think that if you don't do it, it takes too long to cook the rawness out of the onion later and you get a extra layer of flavour from the brown bits.

The nuts/seeds I am using are almonds, seasame and pecans. The later aren't traditional as far as I know, but I like them. Only lightly toasted as there are enough earthy background elements already and in this Mole I'm not adding many lighter fruit elements (tomatilla, plantain, apple etc)

Spices et al.: Cinnamon (not cassia), anise verde (not fennel), cloves, seasame, pepper, corinader and chocolate. I can't get Mexican chocolate here, so regular dark it is. The corinader is really important IMO as it's flavour is very bright and isn't dominated by the other more earthy elements.

Right. The onions and chilies are blended with tomatoes, then the nuts, spices, raisins and some green corinader are added and blended until the motor started to burn out.

At this point you have a basic sauce. The next step is to fry it in lard and finally, you add the chocolate. The frying step is really important as although there isn't a huge difference in the appearance of the Mole, the flavour is very raw at this stage. Frying mellows the flavours (and removes the raw tomato taste) and removes the bitterness. Chocolate adds no distinct flavour really, but changes the colour slightly and adds another element of earthy background flavour.

Left to right: Raw, fried, after addition of chocolate.

After this I cooked the chicken and made a stock from the bodies and bones. Mole paste was diluted with the stock and used to warm through the chicken. Up until this point I was very happy with the flavour of the mole, but on addition to the stock the flavours became quite leaden. Not sure what happened here, it was as if the spice flavours disapeared - maybe the stock I made was wrong wfor this dish or maybe I got the acid level wrong. Anyway, an OK meal, not a great one.

[docsconz]

How rich was your stock? Mexican chicken stock is really very light and not at all like more French style stocks.

[Adam Balic]

Yes, I think that this was an issue. Although it wasn't a very rich stock, it certainly wasn't light.

[shelora]

At this point you have a basic sauce. The next step is to fry it in lard and finally, you add the chocolate. The frying step is really important as although there isn't a huge difference in the appearance of the Mole, the flavour is very raw at this stage. Frying mellows the flavours (and removes the raw tomato taste) and removes the bitterness. Chocolate adds no distinct flavour really, but changes the colour slightly and adds another element of earthy background flavour.

Hi Adam,

From what I can see from the photo of the pastes, I think you have too much texture. Mole sauce or in the paste form, should be smooth as silk and the ground ingredients should really be passed through a strainer before frying in lard.

My experience has taught me not to add the chocolate right away but once the sauce has been seasoned through frying, adding stock and reducing, mellowing the flavours like you say. It sounds like you added the chicken stock all at once at the end. This could greatly affect the end result.

I've always found that the addition of chocolate does indeed add another flavour note, making it richer and like you say, earthy. Perhaps the use of regular chocolate over Mexican chocolate - most of which has the addition of almonds, sugar and cinnamon - had something to do with your findings of no distinct flavour.

For stock, I use the light broth obtained from poaching the chicken first with nothing more than a piece of white onion. Strained of course.

The chicken pieces are then finished in the mole sauce, when pools of oil form on the surface.

Does any of this help?

[Adam Balic]

Thanks very much for this advise, much appreciated.

A common issue I have with all my cooking as that I am doing it from books, without any actual examples on how the dish is actually fisnished, no matter how good the book, there is a lot of guess work from me. I'm not an instinctive cook, so much trial and error is involved.

The sauce will be put though a tamis next time. The texture of the finished paste was buttery, but with some granularity. I think that this was the sesame seeds. Really makes me appreciate how skilled people are when using a cormal to produce the paste.

What is the final texture of the sauce ment to be like? Like single cream?

I added the stock at the end (bit by bit), I will follow your advise in the future. The stock I used contained carrot, celery and white onion. I think that this was also an error.

Chocolate - I have not ready acccess to the Mexican type here (mail order maybe). My understanding is that it contains almonds and spice etc. Would not the spice and almonds added seperately to the mole paste make up for his lack? I guess that all the cooking steps could make a diference to the spice flavour profile, so maybe I should add some more spice in at the final moment.

[shelora]

What is the final texture of the sauce ment to be like? Like single cream?

I never thought of it like that, but yeah. Silky, not too thick and not too thin.

Really makes me appreciate how skilled people are when using a cormal to produce the paste.

The comal would be used to toast the items, the metate would be used to grind the ingredients to a smooth paste. It's has a bigger surface to grind on than a molcajete with is bowl-shaped.

I don't think adding spice at the last minute is a good idea. But you did add salt though, right?

And I don't think that a chicken stock with carrots and celery would make such a huge difference to the final outcome.

I think it's great you have taken up the challenge of making moles from scratch. I love making mole.

Best of luck in the future.

[Adam Balic]

Oops, my error.

[shelora]

The upper arms on some of the women I've watched grinding chocolate or chilies on a metate is awe-inspiring. Don't ever mess with those women!

[LarsTheo]

Last week-end I made some chile sauce, using these chilies

picture of chilies,

which included Guajillo, Negro, Cascabel, Mulato, Pasilla, Morita, and Ancho. It was an experiment. I have about five or six other dried chilies that I did not use - mainly because they are hot. I omitted the Chipotle chilies I have because the Morita is smoky, and I didn't want too much of that because I was primarily making the chile sauce to make Louis salad dressing - not Mexican at all, but I wanted information about chile sauce in general.

Here's what the sauce and salad dressing looked like, and here's the recipe for the salad dressing. Here's how I make the chile sauce, which is very simple because I want it to be versatile. Normally, I only use three types of chilies - Ancho, Guajillo, Pasilla, but when I went to the local Cuban market, I found so many more different types that I had not tried. I think I might find even more at Grand Central Market downtown.

My questions is - what combinations of chilies do you use when making chile sauce? The sauce that I made came out a bit bitter, and so I added a little salt and sugar and some balsamic vinegar to balance the bitterness. I like bitter, but this was a bit too much.

Edited June 14, 2006 by LarsTheo (log)

[kcd]

Good Afternoon!

I'm thinking that I'll make a Manchamantel Mole for Saturday (7/21). I have both Trilling's and Martinez's versions. It is hot here in Texas right now. We'll be having friends over for an outdoor movie and swim and thought this might be just the ticket, spicy and refreshing. (this is an opinion of someone who's never had it).

2 questions:

1 Should make this on Friday, to serve on Saturday?

Typically, I'd make the mole a day before servining (being told by my mother that all stews are better the next day ). The use of the plantains (Trilling) and pineapple (both recipes) made me wonder.

2 ANY feedback on these recopes, or suggestions for another version would be greatly appreciated.

Because of the plantains and use of additional spices I was considering the Trilling recipe, however the story with Zarela Martinez's version was very compelling.

Facts and opinions equally welcome.

kcd

[shelora]

Good Afternoon!

I'm thinking that I'll make a Manchamantel Mole for Saturday (7/21).  I have both Trilling's and Martinez's versions. 

2 questions:

1  Should make this on Friday, to serve on Saturday?

Typically, I'd make the mole a day before servining (being told by my mother that all stews are better the next day  ). The use of the plantains (Trilling) and pineapple (both recipes) made me wonder.

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Hi there kcd,

I've made the Trilling recipe a few times, including at her cooking school. It's absolutely delicious. Funny, I've been thinking about making this particular mole lately - now that is is getting hot here.

To save time, I'd say make the mole the day before. My partner swears that the mole improves the next day. I don't think the use of plantains and pineapple in the recipe is going to make a difference if you make it the day before - if that's what you meant.

Cheers,

Shelora

[kcd]

Cool beans!

I'm off to the store. I'll get it together this afternoon, let it sit overnight and give it a gentle heating tomorrow.

Thank, Shelora. I've read your posts with special interest and appreciation. You, Theobroma, and others have been gentle mentors as I explore this lovely cuisine.

kcd